1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to aspirators. More particularly, the present invention relates to an aspirator for removing bodily fluid from a body cavity, such as mucus from the mouth and throat, through oral suction by another person.
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
It is often necessary to remove bodily fluids, such as mucus and other matter, from the throat of a patient, especially in the case of newborn infants. Vacuum operated collection devices for collecting such bodily fluids are known in prior art.
Such collection devices generally include a container having a screw-on or snap-on cap that provides a fluid-tight closure, and a pair of tubes connected to nipples protruding from the cap in fluid communication with the interior of the container and with each other. In use, one of the tubes is connected to a source of vacuum or a suction force, for example, a mouthpiece for providing suction by mouth, or to another conventional source of hospital vacuum. The other tube may be inserted into the throat or other body cavity of the patient to permit withdrawal of fluid from the bodily cavity, and its collection in the container, in response to suction.
An example of this type of fluid collection device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,525, issued to Schuessler et al., which includes the improvement of including a weak portion in the wall adjacent the cap to facilitate removal of the cap. Such devices, however, allow air from the patient's body cavity to enter the suction tube, where bacteria or germs in it can contaminate and infect either a person who is sucking, or a hospital suction system.
Another such fluid collection system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,084,691, to Stoner. Stoner includes a foot-operated bellows pump for creating suction in a collection chamber having two nipples and mating tubes attached thereto, with one of the nozzles being used to suck bodily fluids from a body cavity. The apparatus in Stoner is relatively large, bulky, complex and expensive. In addition, it does not provide any indication of the amount of resistance to the sucking, which provides important feedback to a person using the device, who can responsively apply only the suction necessary to remove the subject liquids. Finally, Stoner too allows communication of the air to the nurse from the patient through the pump.
While the prior art discloses bodily fluid collection devices relying on suction, such devices allow communication of air, and other gas from the patient through the device, and in the instance of a manually operated device, into the nurse or other health care provider. Although such devices do not normally allow liquid from the patient to enter into the suction system, they do allow air or other gas to enter into the suction tube and the source of vacuum, thereby increasing the danger of further spreading of communicable diseases.
Therefore, there is a significant need for a bodily fluid collection device that isolates both the liquid and the gas fluids extracted from a patient by the health care provider, through a suction apparatus.